The World Bank Group works with countries in Europe and Central Asia to help improve people's lives and achieve shared prosperity in a variety of ways, including through financial lending and analytical and advisory services. Our work aims to help countries achieve better competitiveness, more inclusive growth, and to adapt to climate change and improve energy efficiency.
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Historically, science and technology
parks have typically evolved around tertiary educational
institutions or other research organizations. The role of
science and technology... Show More + parks has been to: recruit and
co-locate new and established knowledge-based companies;
promote innovation based on smart technologies; provide an
interface or shared research environment for research
organizations and private industry; and leverage local
knowledge resources to enhance a regions economic base. The
United States and select countries in Europe were the first
to set up dedicated science parks during the sixties. Many
of these parks were set up to cater to knowledge or
technology-intensive sectors like engineering, chemicals,
and electronics. In Asia, the phenomena of setting up
dedicated parks to enable knowledge sharing started in the
early seventies in several countries. Japan and Korea took
the lead, focusing on basic research and development
activities conducted by government research and development
institutes, and universities. It was only in the late
seventies and early eighties that the non-government sector
started setting up operations in such parks to avail the
benefits of government supported research and development
(RD). In the late nineties, developing countries
increasingly started to establish similar parks as a
preferred tool for promoting their information technology
(IT) industry. Show Less -

A significant number of developing
countries have recently undertaken ambitious health reforms
to improve resource mobilization for healthcare in order to
advance the... Show More + goal of universal health care coverage and to
improve financial protection against impoverishment due to
catastrophic illness costs. These experiences - which are of
great relevance to other low and middle-income countries
about to undertake similar reforms - have not been
consistently evaluated and documented, In order to partially
address this gap, the World Bank's Health, Nutrition
and Population (HNP) Unit in the Human Development Network
has prepared this report, documenting experiences in
financing significant expansions of health care coverage in
low and middle-income countries, based on case studies of
nine 'good practice' countries. This report
focuses on nine countries that have carried out, or are in
the process of carrying out, health financing reforms that
have either resulted in significant expansions of health
care coverage for their populations or sought to maintain
such coverage following a severe and prolonged political or
economic shock (e.g., following the collapse of the former
Soviet Union). In doing so, the report seeks to expand the
evidence base on successful health financing reforms in low
and middle-income countries. The countries chosen for the
study are: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Estonia, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, and Vietnam. Show Less -

Using data from the International
Benchmarking NETwork database, the authors estimate measures
of density and scale economies in the water industry in four
countries... Show More + (Brazil, Colombia, Moldova, and Vietnam) that
differ substantially in economic development, piped water
and sewerage coverage, and characteristics of the utilities
operating in the different countries. They find evidence of
economies of scale in Colombia, Moldova, and Vietnam,
implying the existence of a natural monopoly. In Brazil the
authors cannot reject the 0 hypothesis of constant returns
to scale. They also find evidence of economies of customer
density in Moldova and Vietnam. The results of this study
show that the cost structure of the water and wastewater
sector varies significantly between countries and within
countries, and over time, which has implications for how to
regulate the sector. Show Less -

The study, the role of postal networks
in expanding access to finance, comprises a review of about
60 developing countries in five regional landscapes, based
mainly... Show More + on secondary data. The study provides a unique
insight into the worldwide provision of postal financial
services. It identifies the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats faced by the postal sector-from a
financial sector perspective and from a communication sector
angle (traditional postal and information technology-based
communication services). It also documents elements of best
practice. Lastly, it offers a variety of strategic options
covering several dimensions (policy, legal, regulatory,
institutional, technology, capacity building, and corporate
strategies). A limited number of country case studies are
included in this paper to present a concise story. This
paper attempts to determine the key success factors needed
to achieve successful reform at a country level. There is no
solution that is one-size-fits-all. Therefore a checklist of
prerequisites is suggested to help policymakers and
stakeholders to have an objective debate based on facts and
figures and to look clearly into all options and solutions.
This debate should lead to each country reaching a national
consensus and a long-term vision on the way forward. Based
on the underlying regional and country reports, it is clear
that the postal branch network can be leveraged to promote
access to finance and that the divide between success and
failure depends on the strength of a clear policy and a
strong commitment from the government to deliver the
proposed solutions. Show Less -

One of the major roles of the
international institutions related to natural disasters has
been funding relief and reconstruction efforts. Between 1980
and 2006, the... Show More + World Bank has financed more than 150 post
catastrophe reconstruction projects worth over US$14
billion. In recent years, however, the World Bank and the
other regional development banks have recognized the need to
finance projects whose aim is to reduce risk. This shift in
focus from relief and reconstruction to risk reduction
reflects, first and foremost, the growing recognition that
disasters are inevitable and they undermine these
institutions core mission to eradicate poverty. But it has
also grown out of an understanding that development
processes themselves can play a role in driving disaster
risk. The rising costs of disasters and their
disproportional affects on the developing world have
resulted in an increasing awareness of the connection
between disasters and development. This paper addresses the
issue of streamlining hazard risk management into individual
projects in the rural sector. The purpose of this paper is
to raise awareness and understanding of risk and disaster
management and to provide concrete examples of past projects
demonstrating ways to mainstream hazard risk management
components. The underlying premise of this paper is that
taking disaster risks into account when designing and
implementing rural projects can be done in a manner which
does not greatly change the project's scope.
Mainstreaming risk management can be done in a
cost-effective manner whose benefits in terms of both lives
protected and the sustainability of projects outweigh the
cost. This report presents case studies from a number of
projects undertaken in the past which were developed through
the ingenuity of donor staff and the local project stakeholders. Show Less -

In many countries the private sector has
been involved in financing infrastructure through
concessions under a public-private partnership (PPP)
program. PPP schemes,... Show More + however, are somewhat underutilized in
transition economies, where the potential financing gaps are
significant and growing, and there seems to be an enormous
potential for more private sector involvement in the
financing and operation of highway assets in these
countries. Institutions such as the World Bank can
contribute to enhance private financing of road
infrastructure through greater use of their guarantee power,
in addition to supporting, when required, the public sector
contribution to the construction cost of a PPP project
through loans. Partial risk guarantees are particularly
relevant in the context of seeking more private involvement
in the financing of road infrastructure. This paper reviews
potential applications of partial risk guarantees, the
required legal framework (for example, concession law) for
attracting private capital for PPP schemes, possible steps
for a country to launch a program of private participation
in highways, the concept of greenfield and road maintenance
concession programs, and the treatment of unsolicited
proposals. It also summarizes potential applications of the
World Bank Toolkit for PPP in Highways as an instrument to
help decision-makers and practitioners to define the best
PPP approach for a specific country. Show Less -

This bulletin discusses the first Lao
Business Forum (LBF) which will be held in Vientiane in
October 2005. This forum will be bringing together
representatives from... Show More + the private sector, government agencies
and the donor community to engage in discussions aimed at
improving the environment for private sector business in
Laos. The bulleting also describes the structure of the LBF
and gives updates on LBFs recent activities in Vietnam,
Botswana, Turkey, Cambodia, Bosnia and Malaysia. The
bulletin then gives the government's view point on
private-public dialogue and finishes with the business
communities perspective on this same issue. Show Less -

The ASEM Asian Financial Crisis Response
Trust Fund (ASEM) was established by the leaders of the
Asia-Europe Meeting in 1998, to provide support to East
Asian crisis-hit... Show More + countries. The Asia-Europe Meeting is an
informal platform for dialogue and cooperation between 15
European Union member states, the European Commission, and
ten Asian countries. It provides a space for dialogue,
addressing political, economic, and cultural issues, in the
spirit of strengthening relations between the two regions.
This review confirms that in each of the five countries, the
grants are for purposes that support the expressed current
national development priorities. In each country, good
progress is being made, but in some the progress of
disbursements is still slow, generally as the result of a
number of country-specific problems. This introduction
summarizes the overall trends and statistics, before the
country sections describe the strategic alignment, and
progress of the individual country programs. Show Less -

The study, the role of postal networks
in expanding access to finance, comprises a review of about
60 developing countries in five regional landscapes, based
mainly... Show More + on secondary data. The study provides a unique
insight into the worldwide provision of postal financial
services. It identifies the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats faced by the postal sector-from a
financial sector perspective and from a communication sector
angle (traditional postal and information technology-based
communication services). It also documents elements of best
practice. Lastly, it offers a variety of strategic options
covering several dimensions (policy, legal, regulatory,
institutional, technology, capacity building, and corporate
strategies). A limited number of country case studies are
included in this paper to present a concise story. This
paper attempts to determine the key success factors needed
to achieve successful reform at a country level. There is no
solution that is one-size-fits-all. Therefore a checklist of
prerequisites is suggested to help policymakers and
stakeholders to have an objective debate based on facts and
figures and to look clearly into all options and solutions.
This debate should lead to each country reaching a national
consensus and a long-term vision on the way forward. Based
on the underlying regional and country reports, it is clear
that the postal branch network can be leveraged to promote
access to finance and that the divide between success and
failure depends on the strength of a clear policy and a
strong commitment from the government to deliver the
proposed solutions. Show Less -

The study, the role of postal networks
in expanding access to finance, comprises a review of about
60 developing countries in five regional landscapes, based
mainly... Show More + on secondary data. The study provides a unique
insight into the worldwide provision of postal financial
services. It identifies the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats faced by the postal sector-from a
financial sector perspective and from a communication sector
angle (traditional postal and information technology-based
communication services). It also documents elements of best
practice. Lastly, it offers a variety of strategic options
covering several dimensions (policy, legal, regulatory,
institutional, technology, capacity building, and corporate
strategies). A limited number of country case studies are
included in this paper to present a concise story. This
paper attempts to determine the key success factors needed
to achieve successful reform at a country level. There is no
solution that is one-size-fits-all. Therefore a checklist of
prerequisites is suggested to help policymakers and
stakeholders to have an objective debate based on facts and
figures and to look clearly into all options and solutions.
This debate should lead to each country reaching a national
consensus and a long-term vision on the way forward. Based
on the underlying regional and country reports, it is clear
that the postal branch network can be leveraged to promote
access to finance and that the divide between success and
failure depends on the strength of a clear policy and a
strong commitment from the government to deliver the
proposed solutions. Show Less -

Collectively, the six country case
studies provide an unusually rich source of material on the
local dynamics of the aid business and the realities that
countries face... Show More + when they try to adopt CDF principles in
earnest. In order to make this material more accessible
(full case studies are over 70 pages), OED has summarized
each study to about 15 pages and gathered all six summaries
into this volume, which is intended to complement the main
synthesis report for the CDF evaluation, Toward Country-Led
Development: A Multi-Partner Evaluation of the Comprehensive
Development Framework. This volume can also be used alone,
to enrich the discussion of development assistance in a
particular case study country or as a basis for comparing
country experiences. Since the main purpose of the CDF
evaluation was to look at what had happened since the CDF
was launched, priority was given to interested countries
where pilot implementation of the CDF was the most advanced
(on the grounds that these countries would offer the
greatest potential for learning). Consideration was also
given to Regional balance. One non-CDF pilot country
(Burkina Faso) was chosen as a control. Show Less -

This paper reviews promising country
experiences that show external partners are beginning to
align development assistance with country-owned poverty
reduction strategies.... Show More + It has been prepared as background for
the High Level Forum on Harmonization to be held in Rome
February 24-25, 2003, and aims to: Stimulate cross-country
learning among developing countries and external partners;
Broaden the focus of the ongoing work on harmonization of
operational policies and procedures; and Contribute to a
common approach for monitoring alignment of development
assistance. It is largely based on the results of an
assessment of progress in implementing the Comprehensive
Development Framework (CDF) principles in 48 low-income
countries. At the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for
Development, a consensus was reached between developed and
developing countries on the need for mutual accountability
in achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction
in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The
CDF principles - long term holistic vision and strategy,
country ownership, country-led partnership, and focus on
development results - provide the generally accepted
foundation for implementing this consensus at the country
level. Poverty reduction strategies, based on the CDF
principles, are a key instrument to pursue the MDGs in
low-income countries, which are the focus of this report.
The challenge for external partners now is to scale up the
impact of their assistance through the alignment of their
effort to ensure effective strategy implementation. For
purposes of this paper: Partnership is defined as a
collaborative relationship between entities to work toward
shared objectives through a mutually agreed division of
labor. At the country level, this means engaging, under
Government leadership, national stakeholders and external
partners in developing, implementing, and monitoring a
country's development strategy. Alignment refers to
external partners' actions to increase development
assistance coherence, synergy and complementarity with
country-owned strategies. Show Less -

Income risk, coping strategies, and
safety nets; by Stefan Dercon. The gender implications of
public sector downsizing: the reform program of Vietnam; by
Martin Rama.... Show More + Trade, foreign direct investment, and
international technology transfer: a survey; by Kamal Saggi.
Deregulating the transfer of agricultural technology:
lessons from Bangladesh, India, Turkey and Zimbabwe; by
David Gisselquist, John Nash, and Carl Pray. How research
can assist policy: the case of economic reforms in Uganda;
by John Mackinnon and Ritva Reinikka. Show Less -

Transition with Chinese characteristics
- Progress in ownership changes and hidden risks in
China's transition; by Fan Gang. China's
experience with Transition: what... Show More + is behind its stunning
economic success?; by Richard Hirschler. Stiglitz-Rogoff
debate on "globalization and its discontents" :
Stiglitz: IMF imposed excessive restrictions; Rogoff: your
medicine is dubious. Stiglitz, the IMF, and Globalization;
by Thomas C. Dawson. Excerpts from "Globalization and
its Discontents"; by Joseph Stiglitz. How free from
fear are citizens in transition societies?; by Richard Rose.
Undertaking a difficult transition in Yugoslavia; by
Aleksandra Brankovic and Aleksa Nenadovic. International
training program for entrepreneurs in Mekong countries; by
Joseph McKenzie. Vietnam focuses on education. Education,
ethnicity, and single motherhood: the determinants of
poverty in post-communist countries; by Ivan Szelenyi.
Corruption and poverty in posto-communist Europe; by William
L. Miller. Education to facilitate the way out of poverty;
by Lucinia Bal. Russian industry and WTO accession: death
knell or new beginning?; by Ksenia Yudaeva, Evgenia
Bessonova, and Konstantin Kozlov. A symposium on outstanding
issues of transition economics. Transition economies:
performances and challenges; by Jan Svejnar. The political
economy of transition; by Gerard Roland. Institutional
determinants of labor reallocation in transition countries;
by Tito Boeri and Katherine Terrell. Competition and
corporate governance in transition countries; by Saul
Estrin. Research data from transition economies; by Randall
K. Filer and Jan Hanousek. Poor decentralization policy
burden's Poland social services; by Janelle Kerlin.
Measuring and evaluating transition: the blessing and curse
of indicators; by Ivan Tosics. The importance of nominal
convergence for EU candidate countries; by Marketta
Jarvinen. Finnish firms see more business in Russia - and
reform needs; by Mirja Azeem. Show Less -

An analyst using household survey data
to construct a welfare metric is often confronted with
onfronted with An analyst using household survey data to
construct a welfare... Show More + metric is often confronted with a number
of theoretical and practical problems. What components
should be included in the overall welfare measure? Should
differences in tastes be taken into account when making
comparisons across people and households? How best should
differences in cost-of-living and household composition be
taken into consideration? Starting with a brief review of
the theoretical framework underpinning typical welfare
analysis undertaken based on household survey data, this
paper provides some practical guidelines and advice on how
best to tackle such problems. It outlines a three-part
procedure for constructing a consumption-based measure of
individual welfare: 1) aggregation of different components
of household consumption to construct a nominal consumption
aggregate; 2) construction of price indices to adjust for
differences in prices faced by households; and 3) adjustment
of the real consumption aggregate for differneces in
household composition. Examples based on survey data fro
eight countries--Ghana, Vietnam, Nepal, the Kyrgyz Republic,
Ecuador, South Africa, Panama, and Brazil--are used to
illustrate the various steps involved in constructing the
welfare measure, and the STATA programs used for this
purpose are provided in the appendix. The paper also
includes examples of some analytic techniques used to
examine the robustness of the estimated welfare measure to
underlying assumptions. Show Less -

This pamphlet presents stories of people
from local communities, civil society, the private sector,
international institutions, and the World Bank who are
working together... Show More + to create opportunities around the world.
Profiles cover: Controlling tuberculosis in China; providing
legal aid fr poor women in Ecuador; rebuilding after
disaster strikes Turkey; connecting isolated villages to
markets in Peru; fueling economic growth in Mozambique;
empowering women in Pakistan; striving for peace in Sierra
Leone; helping women combat poverty in Kyrgystan, pumping
water to Brazil; supporting communities in Malawi; fostering
good nutrition in Bangladesh; boosting self-relaince in East
Timor; empowering citizens of Russia; registering
minority-led land in Colombia; providing basic services to
isolated villages in Yemen; expanding education in Armenia;
fighting riverblindness in Africa; giving villagers a voice
in Indonesia; delivering universal primary education in
India; empowering the remote communities of Ethiopia;
stemming the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Brazil; doubling rural
incomes in Turkey; eliminating iodine deficiency in China;
recovering from civil war in Rwanda; improving education
quality in Tunisia; responding quickly to natural disasters
in India; improving medical treatment in Bosnia and
Herzegovina; extending credit to the rural poor in Vietnam;
reducing telecommunications costs in the Caribbean; and
helping children lead healthier lives in Bolivia, among
other accounts. Show Less -

In this issue: The business climate:
making it work. Partnering with the Soros Foundations in
Kosovo. New Moves in Vietnam. SME support in Sichuan : The
China Project... Show More + Development Facility. Conference On Small
Business Lending. FINCA International. Meet the team. Calendar. Show Less -

Very little is known about the actual
impact of projects on the poor. Many are reluctant to carry
out impact evaluations because they are deemed expensive,
time consuming,... Show More + and technically complex, and because the
findings can be politically sensitive. Yet a rigorous
evaluation can be powerful in assessing the appropriateness
and effectiveness of programs. Evaluating impact is
particularly critical in developing where resources are
scarce and every dollar spent should aim to maximize its
impact on poverty reduction. This handbook seeks to provide
project managers and policy analysts with the tools needed
for evaluating project impact. It is aimed at readers with a
general knowledge of statistics. Chapter 1 presents an
overview of concepts and methods, Chapter 2 discusses key
steps and related issues to consider in implementation,
Chapter 3 illustrates various analytical techniques through
a case study, and Chapter 4 includes a discussion of lessons
that have been reviewed for this handbook. The case studies,
included in Annex I, were selected from a range of
evaluations carried out by the Bank, other donor agencies,
research institutions, and private consulting firms. Also
included in the annexes are samples of the main components
that would be necessary in planning any impact evaluation -
sample terms of reference, a budget, impact indicators, a
log frame, and a matrix of analysis. Show Less -